The present invention relates to a disposable excreta management device such as an urine management device and a fecal management device, for babies, children or adults. In particular, the present invention relates to a disposable excreta management device comprising a skin attachment means and a flexible pouch which can expand vertically to have a three-dimensional shape in use.
Excreta management devices are known articles of manufacture that are designed to be worn principally by infants, incontinence sufferers or bedridden patients. Such excreta management devices are attached to the urethral region, the natural anal region or artificial anus of the wearer and are intended to entrap and immediately contain urine, fecal material or other bodily discharges.
A representative fecal management device is disclosed in, e.g., EP 0245064. It discloses a fecal incontinence bag having flexible front and rear walls secured together around their periphery. The front wall has a hole therein for entry of matter discharged by the wearer. The hole is surrounded by an adhesive pad of skin-compatible water-resistant material secured to the external surface of the front wall surrounding the hole. The general shape of the front and rear wall is rectangular, i.e. the bag has two opposed long sides and two opposed short sides, the width of the bag being relatively short compared to the length of the bag.
Another representative fecal management device is disclosed in, e.g., WO 99/00085 and WO 99/00086. These publications disclose a fecal management device comprising a bag having an aperture and an anatomically-shaped flange which surrounds the aperture. The bag has a wearer facing portion and a garment facing portion, both of which comprise separate pieces of material. The wearer facing portion and the garment facing portion are sealed at the periphery of the bag. In additoin, WO 99/00085 discloses that the surface area of the wearer facing portion is greater than that of the garment facing portion.
A representative urine collector device is disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,377. It discloses a urine collector device for infants or small children having a flexible collection bag and an adhesively-faced attachment member joined to the bag. The flexible collection bag comprises an inner bag and an outer bag. The inner and outer bags are joined at a common top seam and opposite shared side searns. However, there is no technical idea regarding the expansibility of the collection bag.
Another representative urine management device containing an absorbent material is disclosed in, e.g., WO 00/00113. It discloses a urine management device for infants, adults, for bedridden patients or active patients, having a flexible collection bag, an adhesive flange joined to the bag and an absorbent material to be contained within the bag. The flexible collection bag of the urine management device has a wearer facing portion and a garment facing portion. Furthermore, plural folds are provided on the wearer facing portion of the bag such that the wearer facing portion of the collection bag can expand vertically.
The excreta management devices are generally located in the space between legs of a wearer during use of the device. Therefore, the bag of the device preferably needs to be flexible so as to adapt the bag to the wearer""s movement. The bag of the device may be pressed by buttocks and/or legs of the wearer after the wearer discharges excreta, such as urine, fecal material and/or other bodily discharges into the bag. This may cause the excreta in the bag to leak from the inside of the bag to the outside. It is an essential functionality for the excreta management device to expand the bag efficiently so as to avoid leaking of excreta as the bag containing excreta is pressed by wearer""s body, such as buttocks and/or legs. While the bag disclosed in WO 00/00113 has plural folds on the wearer facing portion of the bag to expand vertically when excreta are contained into the bag, the garment facing portion of the bag is not provided with any structure to expand. In this structure, the garment facing portion may expand completely ahead of the wearer facing portion when the bag pressed by wearer""s body. Therefore, the garment facing portion may prevent the wearer facing portion from expanding completely if the bag is pressed by wearer""s body. This is because expansibility of the garment facing portion is not greater than that of the wearer facing portion. In the manner as stated above, none of the publications above disclose how to ensure expansion of the flexible bag in order to avoid leaking of excreta even if the bag is pressed by wearer""s body. Thus, none of the existing arts provided all of the advantages and benefits of the present invention.
The present invention relates to a disposable excreta management device having a longitudinal centerline and a transverse centerline, and comprising a flexible bag to contain excreta and an adhesive flange to attach the device to the body of the wearer. The flexible bag has a wearer facing portion and a garment facing portion. The wearer facing portion has an opening surrounded by the adhesive flange. The disposable excreta management device is characterized in that expansibility of the garment facing portion of the flexible bag is greater than that of the wearer facing portion of the flexible bag when the flexible bag contains excreta.